Common Cents Living

Winter 2010

2010-02-28T08:09:00.004-06:00

This winter has drug on and on. Maybe by June all this snow will melt, but I swear, it might be July! I have had to shovel a path out back so Charlie can go out and do his business. Luckily I dug the path over to the big fir tree in back and he can go under the tree where there is not much snow. Actually he has enjoyed having some room to move around under that tree.

The last year has been rather difficult, as it seems like most of my family has died. Starting last Feb. my Aunt Sophie, who was my last living aunt, passed away. Then in June, it was my brother Leslie, then his twin LeRoy went in November. My sister, Karen, who had terminal cancer died in September. January my favorite cousin, Sandie quietly slipped away. Lately I have thought it was proably a good thing I was not real close to my siblings, as it would have really devestated me.

On a good note, I finally found a new inside sales position and am out of that job from Hell!

I got fired....yes, fired...and it was the best thing that could have happened, as I had a job interview set up for the day after I got fired. You all have no idea how relieved I was, since I had been looking for a job for as long as I had the job from Hell, which was 2 1/2 years! The depression and stress lifted instantly!!!

Talk about my luck changing? I had a string of things happen:

Found a great deal on tires, which I needed badly. The were 80,000 mile tires for the price of 50,000 mile.

Needed clothes for work and it was clearance on clearance at Penney's and Gordman's. For less than $100 I got 3 sweaters, 5 pairs of nice dress slacks and a really cute blazer.

For years I have not had a stove, which was not a big deal, since it was only me. I had been looking online and stopped at a few home stores to see what was out there. I looked in the classified section of our local tv station website and found one that looked really new for $150!

The new job is about a 60-65 mile round trip away. The 3rd day I got into a car pool for $15 a week.

I said to everyone I really should buy a lottery ticket!

This week end an old friend of mine moved in with me. We are still trying to find room for all the groceries she has and trying to figure out how to hook up the electronics we are putting together. The move will be good for both of us. Now hopefully she can find a permanent job!

I am thinking I should buy a lottery ticket. :-)

What a Mess

2009-05-24T08:12:00.013-05:00

This is the long week end when I work like a mad woman to get the yard in order. This year is different because I am downsizing the flower beds and dividing or getting rid of flowers. All of the flowers are perennials and quite hardy, so the beds become more jungle like every year.

It had rained Friday night, so it was a perfect time to start pulling or dividing out unwanted or overgrown plants. The front flowerbed was over grown with Snow on the Mountain and Lily of the Valley, which were choking out the hostas and ferns. I pulled 5 grocery bags out and there will be another 6-7 from my east beds. Snow on the Mountain has become my main noxious weed! It has great color and is pretty, but if it is not contained...

In the afternoon my daughter came over to help her old Mom clean out junk that has to go. She is just starting to improve her yard, so many of the building materials I had laying around and flowers I need to divide have gone home with her. YES!

This pile of rubble is what was left of the old waterfall berm after I pulled out all the old cinder block we used to elevate it. There was dirt put on top of the blocks, then the plants were added. I wanted it gone! (There are pictures in previous posts of the old waterfall, which had gone thru many transformations in the past.)

Daughter really would like to have my honeysuckle bushes and thought she could dig them out. I did not say anything, but I knew that was not going to happen! There are 3 of them. She left them a bit ragged, but I can fix that.

I swear they grow about a foot a day until they reach about 7 feet tall! I really like them, but they are placed where they are shading my small tree and it was not doing well. (You can kind of see the left side of the tree is a bit sad.) Either I will have to keep them pruned on a monthly basis or try to kill them off, that decision has not been made yet.

At the end of the afternoon there was a pickup load of cinder block from the old pond, a roll of fencing, a multitude of rolls of black edging, and numerous fence posts of metal and wood. It was about 4:30 when she left and we had worked for about 4 hours. She was going home to plant the boxes of flowers in her gardens. I wonder how much she got done.

I got the trimmer out and edged all the path pavers and around a few of the beds. Today I need to mow and it will be looking wonderful!

Charlie and the Chihuahuas were outside all day and when we came in the house they wanted food and were ready for bed. After I had a shower, a pizza, and a few beers we all crawled into bed to watch Practical Magic. It was a fluffy movie, but a great ending to a very productive day.

2009-05-17T18:12:00.002-05:00

I am not sure where I have been, but have felt guilty I have not posted. Part has been that my camera died and I thought I should not post. So I got a new camera in Feb. and did not post. Life has twist and turns.
Do I have anything to say? For awhile I thought I did not. When you search the web and look at all there is going on....and now there is the twitter thing... Maybe I should worry less that everyone has allot to say..... and go back to thinking about writing like an old household columnist like Erma Bombeck. OK, I am not as funny, but have a few things to impart.

A TRIP THRU MY GARDEN

2008-06-22T09:44:00.007-05:00

These pictures were taken June 14, 2008

The lilac bushes (23 of them) were in bloom and made a very nice backdrop for the rest of the garden. If you noticed the swing, you will see where I spend alot of my time when I am not digging in the dirt.

This spring I took out 3 honeysuckle bushes and 8 huge brown yard bags of a variety of weeds and plants I thinned out. There are still a few carts of dirt to move and the front yard to thin. People keep saying they would love to have some of my perennials, but no one shows up to get them. There are no annuals, as the garden is definitely full and by the end of July will be a jungle.

This is the vegetable garden..... 2 tomatoe plants and 3 green peppers. Oh and a few onion sets. This is certainly all I need. The spring has been unseasonably cool and wet. It seems they are not growing at all, but since the pix were taken a few weeks ago, they have grown alot. Finally we have had some warm weather so give them a growth spurt.

Spring in the Garden

2008-06-01T07:32:00.007-05:00

In the last years I have had various configurations of pond and waterfall. Two years ago I got tired of fixing leaks in the waterfall and rearranged the rocks around the pond without the waterfall. I really enjoyed the pond, but it was something I continously had to mess with and I decided the flower beds and yard was enough for me to do.

Pond and Waterfall July 2004

Every spring the preformed basin is half full of fetid water, dead leaves, dead plants, worms, trash and occasionally a carcass of some small animal who did not know they could not swim. After skimming out all the debris, I pump or suck out the fetid water. It is just a very unpleasant job.

Every spring I say to myself, "It is hard to remember you came to drain the swamp, when you are up to your arse in alligators". Now with the water restrictions on in my area it is hard to justify filling the pond and maintaining it all summer. I love the water sound, but not the time I have to spend scooping out leaves, cleaning the pump filter, and trying to get the ph balance right so I do not have green slime.

The first part of May the preformed pond (4’ x 6’ x 4’) was taken out. (I am wondering what to do with it, as it is sitting on my patio.) Some of the old waterfall berm of cinderblocks and other leftovers went into the pond hole. My neighbor, John, who does concrete work, brought me a load of nice clean black dirt and was nice enough to wheelbarrow the dirt to fill the hole.

In March, my daughter and I happened upon a "bean pot" at Hobby Lobby, which I thought might work for a new water feature. Luckily it was on sale for 50% off, or I would not have bought it. Since I already had the tub, a small pump and tubing, it was just a matter of buying some 1/2" mesh wire to cover the bottom basin and top with the rock. Water feature diagram.

I am very happy with the results. Now there is more time to play in the dirt!

Water Feature May 2008

Respecting Property

2008-05-29T20:52:00.002-05:00

As most of you know I am getting closer to 60 and am wondering if I am not an old fashioned in my ways.

Recently on the Frugal Living Forum there was a post about painting the interior of the house because the kids had been pretty hard on the walls. Several women made a comment about their young children had written and doodled on the walls that it was time to paint them.

Another gal made a comment how the walls needed freshening up in her house as the fingerprints, grim and scars from the children’s wear and tear looked pretty bad. There were several posts commiserating on these comments.

These remarks left me scratching my head, as I am wondering if people forgot how to respect the property they are working so hard to pay the mortage on. Why would you allow your children to write on the walls and abuse their property? What happened to pride in your home and all the hard work it takes to keep it looking nice and clean?

IF, as a child, I would have had the courage to even think about writing, coloring, painting or marring my Mother's walls in anyway……………I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN TROUBLE!

Mom was a single parent and worked hard to save to build our 1st house. She was fastididiouss and expected me to learn to be also. Her attitude was if I had to clean up the messes I made, I would make fewer. There was not the attitude of "kids will be kids"; they are going to be messy, doodle and write where ever they feel like it or run their grimy little hands along the hallway walls and smudge dirt around the light switches, spill milk on the floor etc.

After playing a sweaty game of ball it is necessary to use the bathroom and only naturally my grimy little paws, and those of my friends, would be slid down the hallway walls.
Have you noticed it is impossible for children not to lean against a corner or wall while asking to have friends over or perhaps go for ice cream? It is like the wall and you MUST support each other. A few summer evenings of the first year in the new house were spent washing grimy fingerprints off the hallway walls. I may have made a bigger mess on the floors, but Mom was making a point and teaching me respect for taking care of what I was blessed with…a nice home.

I wish I would have a dime for every time Mom told me to keep my hands off the walls AND to tell my friends they do not to put their hands on the walls either. Yes, I did tell my little friends I would be “killed” if the walls were touched!

To this very day, I wash my walls at least once a year and every few months or so wash around the light switches and around the door knobs etc. It is just general cleaning. Since I love decorating I might paint every 4-5 years, but it is not to cover up disrespect and dirt, nor has it been when I have had small children.

Think about it. It is about respect and taking care of the property you are working hard to pay the mortgage on. How much does it save you in grief and even embarrassment to take care of your home? How much does soap and water cost? How much time and money does it save you by not having to paint? What does it teach your children?

My blog and my thoughts……………

WHAT GOES AROUND...COMES AROUND

2008-02-27T20:24:00.004-06:00

Lately some of my spare time has gone to help my daughter paint the interior of her house. It is a good bonding experience and nice to eat someone else’s cooking. We make a great team, as I like to do the cutting in and she likes to do the rolling.

Any color would be better than what she had, as it was the most non-descript color I have ever seen. I have a real aversion to taupe, but this was even worse. Have you ever noticed having an aversion to color? Does it nearly make you ill?

Over time, I have had my color mistakes like everyone else, but as we say: It is only paint! There was a time in the mid 90’s I found a cute little comforter and curtain set for my bedroom. So, thinking I could not go wrong, I picked a “pink” from the set and painted the walls. It was a bit intense, but maybe I could get use to it? Change is not always easily accepted, but I figured after a few days…. NOT. In the morning, one eye would open and see the wall, the other would open and I would groan. It should have been soothing; after all it was Pepto Bismol Pink! 6 months was enough!

The trends today are going back to what I saw as a young adult in the late 60’s.

My daughter has adopted the "brights" of the 60's-70's styles: lime green, bright turquoise, hot pink and loud orange. Her home office is called Jetfire, which is a tangerine color and much better than the pumpkin it was a few years ago.

There are awesome new designers who are getting into the retro creations. This is a sample of fabric done by Jessica Jones, who has How about orange... blog. Stop over there and see the neat ideas and creations she has going. For some of us it is a blast from the past. She does a great job updating furniture and has some fun crafts. The graphic above is from her first fabric collection. There are alot of great links to other young creative people also!

It took a lot of dissuading to get my daughter to give up the idea of putting turquoise with it. All I could think of was Howard Johnson’s from the 70’s! I was abhorred, but since I do not live there…

After I thought about the room design a long time, I realized I had a number of swatches of discontinued upholstery fabrics that I salvaged when I worked at the furniture store. I came up with some wonderful combos of wild prints and solids to use for pillows and perhaps some sort of wall art. I lugged the bag over to her house and made her look at the possibilities. Guess what! She liked the ideas. We discussed what we could do in the room, as it is very orange, a black framed futon covered in a dark brown. Cream recycled heavy weight sheers and mostly dark furniture.

Once again inspiration hit me and I was on a roll. I really felt the color combo she had chosen was rather juvie. I told her she need something more adult, but she was afraid she might lose the FUN aspect. I explained you can decorate more adult and have a bit more class WITH WHIMSY. She said that is exactly what she wanted.

The whimsy will come with the bright patchwork pillows using rather graphic fabrics and art work. It has been years since I have painted, but I think I can do something organically graphic? I am very excited! (Soon as I have pictures to post, they will be here.)

Personally, my diningroom has taken a step back in time to the olive (NOT avocado), golds (NOT harvest gold) and rusts (NOT burnt orange). They are not quite the shades we had in the 60’s, as they are cleaner and clearer.

After having lived with a burnt orange “living room set” for nearly 30 years, I have no desire to see that color again! Yes, it does pay to buy quality…and it is a good thing I learned to slipcover!

MY CONVENIENCE OATMEAL "PACKETS"

2008-02-20T19:11:00.001-06:00

Last night I started to write about the winter doldrums, but got side tracked on changing the garden....easy to do these days.
Was going to talk about making your own convenience foods. If you will remember Sesame Street's Swedish Chef, you will have a good picture of my cooking style. After a week end of cooking I most definitely have to wipe down the cupboards, the floor and me! This is why I think cooking all at one time on the week end works out well for me.

For some reason this winter oatmeal sounded good...evidently I was really bored with food because, I really have not had a taste for oatmeal for years. I tried a dish one morning and found it to be rather tasty, so decided it would be a good food to "prepackaged". Usually on the week end I make up a 9-12 of these because it is just easier than messing around every morning...especially since I am a very messy cook.

I had saved a number of little yogurt cups (recycle!) and found they were just perfect to use for a single serving.
1/2 cup quick oatmeal, a few raisins, a tablespoon of brown sugar or plain, a dash of cinnamon and if you wish a tablespoon of coffee creamer or powdered milk. Just dump in a bowl, add 1 1/3 yogurt cups of water and nuke. Sometimes I add a bit of milk, sometimes not.

I have been trying to use up stuff just sitting in the cupboards.
The creamer is left over from making hot cocoa mix earlier this winter.
I was nearly out of brown sugar and remembered you can make your: 1 cup plain white sugar add 2 tablespoons of molasses (where did 2 bottles of molasses come from?) and mix well....this takes awhile and a fork works pretty good for stirring it up. After it sits a day or so it is yummy! Actually I think I like it better than boughten brown sugar.

WINTER DOLDRUMS

2008-02-18T21:09:00.007-06:00

Don't you hate this time of year? Seems like winter has drug on and I know we will have a few more months, complete with a few more snow storms. In Mexico and some parts of the southern US gardens are being planted and people are hoping for rain. I am so envious! Here in the northern climates the seed catalogs are in the mailboxes and we are just dreaming of what we are going to plant.

For those of you who have been in my back yard, you know it has become a jungle and definitely time to divide and conquer the plants. Every spring I watch the little shoots come up and think the beds really looks sparce. I am sure the whole garden is going to look really sickly. In reality, by June it is overgrown. It breaks my heart to destroy any of the plants and I keep telling people, to come over and adopt some plants. Hopefully a few will show up this year!

The pond and waterfall are alot of fun, but a whole lot of work. The last several years I have told myself that pond has to go, as I do not want to deal with fish or green slime. My neighbor, Debbie, says she loves to listen to the sound of the fountain in the pond when her window is open at night. Of course, in the spring, she is not wading around in rubber garden boots and vacuuming the decaying leaves off the bottom, or fishing out the little critters who did not know how to swim. This year the pond is coming out!

I want to go out with a cold beverage in had, sit on the swing, and listen to the sound of water over the sound of the traffic! So I have decided to cover up the pond, disassemble the water fall area and put in a simple, but noisy fountain. Now I just have to figure out what kind of fountain I want to do. I have the pumps and a variety of bits and pieces, so should be able to come up with something. Like interior design, it is time for a makeover of the yard. I have pictures and great memories, but it is time to move on to something new and less maintenace. This is the time of year to dream of the warm breezes and watching fireflies in the evening.

I am anxious to go out and play in the dirt!

BLACK MAGIC CAKE

2008-02-10T16:35:00.000-06:00

Lately time has slipped away...unfortunately winter has not! The weather has been perfect to stay in and hibernate. Wanted to post this for a gal from the Frugal Living Forum and for a Valentine treat for you all to try. This is probably my favorite cake of all time.

This has been a recipe I have used for years. It is a bit different as cakes go, as you do not put frosting on it, atho it says frost as desired. It is so moist that it would be difficult to try to smear frosting on top. Usually I serve it with ice cream or whipped cream. You might even want to try a bit of carmel over it with the ice cream.

Black Magic Cake
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong black coffee
1 cup of buttermilk or sour milk*
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 inch pans or one 13X9X2 inch pan. In large mixer bowl blend sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Batter will be thin. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes then remove from pans to wire racks. Frost as desired.* To sour milk: use 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 cup of milk

USING UP FOODS - WEEK END COOKING

2008-01-28T18:23:00.000-06:00

Every week end I try to cook for the coming week. The pantry is a little slim right now, so worked on using what I had. There was a large bag of potatoes which were starting to sprout and I really did not want them to go bad.

With the old Saladmaster grinder/shredder I make some of the taters into hash browns, skins and all. After shredding them, I nuked them so they were partially done, spread them on an old pizza pan to cool and bagged them up for the freezer. I love

hash browns!

The Saladmaster was boughten at a flea market for $10 about 5 years ago. At the time I thought it was a bit spendy, but I have really gotten alot of use out of it. Amazingly the original manual was with it. There were 6 "cams" with it. The best part is that it is stainless steel. I need a small screw to put a knob on the handle, so will have to remember that when I get to the hardware store.

Some of the taters were peeled, as were some carrots, then boiled and mashed. If you have not tried this, you really should, as it is excellent. Babies love them too! The peels all went into my compost coffee can to be spread later this week on top of the snow over the flower beds. One of the gals from the Frugal Living Forum does this and says it works great.

There was turkey from Thanksgiving in the freezer that needed to be used up too. I had some sauteed celery and onions in the freezer (also saved at the spare of the moment) and, of course, some chicken broth, then added some mixed frozen veggies for turkey soup. I made a few egg dumplings, then all of it was cooled and put in the freezer.

I always save the ends of my bread and whatever seems to be getting a bit old in a plastic bag in my freezer. There was enough to make some great bread pudding. Bread pudding is wonderful for desert with a bit of milk or ice cream or for breakfast.

Bread Pudding

3-4 cups cubed dried bread. Wheat is ok! Dried, stale etc.
2 cups of milk heated, but not boiling (I used powdered milk)
2 T butter
1/8 t salt
½ cup sugar, I use brown sugar.
2-3 eggs beaten

1 t. vanilla
Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
Raisins and - or dried cranberries

Heat milk (Put the raisins in it to plump them up) and butter then add bread. Supposedly you are to let this cool, but I never do.
Beat eggs; add the rest of the ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 min. in a buttered or no stick pan.

Sunday morning I had put a small beef roast in the crocked pot, so had a fabulous dinner about 2:20 of roast beef, mashed tater-carrots and some frozen broccoli. Yummy!

Between cooking this and that, I wiped down the cupboards, throughly dusted the diningroom and livingroom and mopped up the laminate floors. Then I did a little rearranging of furniture to give things a new look. It lifted my spirits, if nothing else.

Sunday evenings have become bread baking time. My daughter gave me a bread machine for Christmas and I am trying to get the nack of it. The white bread comes out great, but my wheat breads are either crusty and dry or crusty and doughy in the middle. I have gotten a few ideas from posters and am going to try wheat bread again.

A BIT OF FOLLOW UP

2008-01-22T17:35:00.000-06:00

After writing "Are you making your share of trash?", I decided I would see how much my trash weighed this week. I made 10 #, which is not too bad, but would like to get it down lower yet! All the cardboard was torn up and flattened, no recycleable, puppy newpapers and chicken bones all fit into one large kitchen bag.

I know 5 pounds of it was skin and bones from the 10 pounds of chicken I cooked, cut up and froze. I have wondered if buying Wal Mart's 10# chicken hindquarters was a good deal or not.
It is alot of work:

get the big roaster out
cook chicken, cool, drain
put the broth in a container for soups
skin, debone and chop up then bag it
clean the roaster and put it away.
put the unusable parts in the garbage.

The 10# bag is $4.30. I end up with a bit less than 5 #'s of usuable chicken and some broth. So that is about $.86/#. Even adding in the energy to cook it and the garbage man to haul it away, it's still a good deal for chicken. Since I have the time...I will continue with this mess. It is nice to have the chicken for Maggie, Jack and me. It is convenient to have it in the freezer, but not convenient to make!

BEEN BUSY

2008-01-13T07:34:00.000-06:00

In addition to keeping warm, I have been keeping busy sewing. Moving around generates heat. This year I am going to try to use up things I have around here. My fabric and craft stash would rival a small shop, so I need to get creative!

Sewing projects finished yesterday:

My daughter's dogs needed new beds, so I dug into my stash of fiberfill (saved from a good deal I got on fiber beds and comforters) and heavy duty fabric to make them new beds.

A friend noticed the draft stoppers and commented she was thinking she needed to buy some for her house. BUY? My friend will have 3 draft stoppers and a matching rice/flax bag. This just took a few scraps and flax seed given to me by my nice neighbor.

Next month is my daughter's 30 birthdayso made her a nice present, which I will not divulge, as she occasionally reads this blog. But it involved a beautiful piece of fleece and can be worn.

I mended a patchwork jacket that has been hiding in my sewing cloest. Now I have another jacket to wear to work! 10 minutes of hand sewing saved the jacket from the rag pile.

I made new tea cozy to match the rice/flax bag I use to keep the teapot warm.

As most of you know I love rice bags and find all kinds of uses for them. I made my coworkers flaxseed bags for a little Christmas gift. There were 2 left, so I laid them on my boss's desk. The next day I asked him if he thought he and his wife could use them. His comment was, "Yes, thank you...Do you know what they are getting for these at the mall?" He then asked me to find a box for them and regifted them right in front of me!!! (We all knew he was Scrooge, but that was just plain rude far as I was concerned. This man is in his 60's and worth millions, and I would have thought would have had some manners, but guess not.

The office manager loved hers. She has arthritis and neck problems. I mentioned I made one that goes around my shoulders and offered to let her try it out to see if it would help her back and artheritis problems. She tried it on and got a look of relief on her face. (Just the weight of the bag without the heat helps put your shoulders down from your ears.) She tried it a few days and I asked how it worked. She said she wanted one too, as it really did help. So she now has one to match her little rice bag.

One of my other co workers got a rotten head cold, which settled in her ears. She used it on her ears and was surprised how good it felt.

Another friend called me a few weeks ago to tell me how comforting it was after surgery. She applied it to her incision. I do not know if that is a good thing to do or not, but it helped with the pain. It also works great for menstrual cramps.

I am surprised at the number of sites which exclaim the comfort and relief these little bags provide.There is a multitude of online sites that sell them and the prices amazed me! I wonder how many are sold! Maybe I should go into business. LOL

ARE YOU MAKING YOUR SHARE OF TRASH?

2008-01-12T16:36:00.000-06:00

"Every year, the United States generates approximately 230 million tons of "trash"--about 4.6 pounds per person per day. Less than one-quarter of it is recycled; the rest is incinerated or buried in landfills. With a little forethought, we could reuse or recycle more than 70 percent of the landfilled waste, which includes valuable materials such as glass, metal, and paper. This would reduce the demand on virgin sources of these materials and eliminate potentially severe environmental, economic, and public health problems."

Ok, I have not weighted my garbage to see how much I accumulate in a week, but I know I am not contributing 4.6# per day! (That might be an interesting experiment.)

I was remembering a cross country trip about 10 years ago from South Dakota to LA in a semi. It had been years since I had been on a cross country trip and I was really excited. The driver was forever eating and it would not have been difficult for him to fill up the interior of the truck with garbage. (Trust me, when I owned trucks, I have seen some really raunchy interiors by drivers who were pigs!)

It got me starting thinking about all the trash we create and do not know what to do with. While going through uninhabited parts of the west, I said we could bury all the trash out here in the middle of nowhere.......one of the hills for plastic, one for newspapers etc. He just laughed at me.

I noticed the closer we got to LA, the more trash was strewn/left alongside the highway. I asked the driver if he remembered me saying that in the middle of nowhere would be a good place for a landfill. He said he did. I said evidently the people out here in California have already started doing that, but they are not sorting it!

I was totally amazed and appalled. Anything people did not want they dumped right by the side of the highway! There were bags of garbage strewn over the landscape, old tires, whitegoods, toys and anything you can imagine. The parking lots were filthy, and not just at truckstops, but malls and grocery store lots too. It was a very eye opening experience, but not one I was NOT ready for. The flora and fauna was so beautiful, but all I could think about was the trash it was probably hiding or was entangled in it.

___________________________________________________________________________________

My daughter and I were discussing the price of our sanitary services. Last month there was a notice on my bill that the fee would be going up. With the increase of fuel costs and higher landfill fees it was enevitable. I live alone I usually can get buy with one container a week, in the summer I have more at times, as there is stuff from the yard I will not recycle.

Having to pay for throwing stuff away seems silly, but then I grew up when we could burn our trash or it would go to our own landfills on the farm. It was great fun digging around in our landfills and seeing all the neat stuff my family threw away over the years. (Gezzz, I wish I had some of those Avon perfume bottles now!)

My daughter remarked that she had very little trash after she started sorting out all the recyclables. (I don't think our part of the country is good at recycling.) DUH! What an idea of keeping the cost down! Recyclables are not counted as part of the container.

I find if I crush or tear up any of the light weight cardboard packaging, it seems I have alot less trash and can fit more in a bag. So I save on bags and can get more garbage in my can. Does that make any sense? In actuality I do not usually have a full can. If the cardboard is torn up in smaller bits will it deteriorate in the landfill quicker?

We need to stop being an unconscious consumer. Think before you buy and ask yourself if you really NEED “it” think about how much you really wanted it, will used it or how it will actually add to your life. Being GREEN can also be frugal.

Personally I make a game out of it and try to think of at least 3 uses for things that are about to go in the trash. This year I am really going to be more conscious of packaging of the products I buy. Even now I try to reuse packaging for something else if possible. When buying meat, I can buy it out of a case and have it wrapped in freezer paper, so do not have the Styrofoam packaging to deal with later. The Styrofoam trays can be used for snacks, dog dishes, torn up and used for drainage in pots, paint trays, drawer dividers.... T

Some of the glass bottles as olive oil, wine, BBQ sauce etc. are being saved to be used as vases for garden flowers for the neighbor ladies. The jam I buy at the discount bread store comes in jars with handles, which are great for vases, outdoor beverages, holding pencils....

Little yorgurt containers work great for little leftovers to go in the freezer for soup, the work perfectly for making my "instant" oatmeal packets for breakfast, they are great to store screws and extra paint for touch ups....

Old household items should be recycled HGTV has some great ideas. The web has a ton of green living, recycling and reusing sites. Please take the time to look for some of them.

Questions in my mind:
Do people still use trash compactors? I have a built in one... my foot.
If you save things that you have decided you can recycle, will you have more stuff to deal with?

Gezz I hate to throw things and even as a child I was always going through our trash to see if there was something "good" that Mom threw out. Mom was frugal too. So maybe these ideas are kind of ingrained.

If I do nothing else on this blog, I would like to encourage people think!!!

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

2008-01-12T15:56:00.001-06:00

Seems most folks make some sort of promise to themselves to improve in some way at the start of a new year, but I am still working on last year's! Improvement should be an ongoing process; regardless if it is self improvement, your lifestyle, your home etc. Don't you think so?

Unfortunately I got into the consumerism mode with many other people and find I have way to much stuff. Slowly I am working my way of using, reusing and just trying to not buy anything I really do not need. NEED is the operative word! We all must get into asking ourselves if we really NEED or just want something and..... WELL........

This week one of the gal's on the Frugal Living Forum posted a link to a very interesting video, which gave me a whole new perspective on buying and using stuff. It is about 20 minutes long and very thought provoking. If you have a few minutes take the time to view it and think about it. It is simply called "The Story of Stuff".

As an ol' hippy I was always fascinated by recycling items, but never really got into recycling aluminium cans, bottles, newspapers as that was for all the "tree huggers". I think we all pick and choose what we want as our "causes", but I think it has become increasingly necessary to think harder and take up more causes.

This week a news commentator actually used the word recession. I could not believe I heard him, but it was said again. Seems the government and these financial wizards are always months behind knowing what is going on. Don't they buy fuel and groceries? How long does it take them to realize our money is not going very far.

Is it my imagination or has the media been featuring more articles about living green, ways to save money and how life has gotten more difficult? Personally, I think it is going to get alot worse, and it will go on for a long time.

Over a year ago I tried to talk to my daughter about this, but she did not want to hear anything about it. She thinks I am a harbinger of doom and gloom. I have had coworkers laugh at me and asked me where I would get such an idea as we are going to have a recession or depression. At that time I was working in a furniture store and I was seeing people were really shopping for deals, financing and there were more people just looking. The wealthy are still buying, as the upper end furniture stores were busy. This part of the country seems to be at least a year behind most of the country. The housing boom was stilling going, but one of the contractors said there were fewer spec homes being built. It is just a matter of time for the housing market to take a dive here.

I really feel bad for those who have no idea how to be frugal. A few nights ago I was perusing one of the well known lady's magazines online. There was an article of how to save money. It would be a good place to start if you are not into being frugal, but it was the basics. I am afraid many of us are going to have to use our black belt frugal skills to make it in the coming months. So my new years resolution, if you want to call it that, is to hone my frugal skills.

CRAB CAKES

2008-01-05T16:02:00.000-06:00

Lately food has been very boring, so I decided I needed to make something different for dinner on New Year's Day. This is what I came up with and after mixing it up, I realized there was ALOT more there than I would eat.
So I called my daughter to come to dinner. She was not really excited with the menu, but after one bite, she wanted leftovers to take home. This was my first attempt and I was very pleased.
Side dishes were a simple lettuce salad and brown and wild rice simmered in homemade chicken broth with mushrooms and onions added in. Very simple... but tasty!
Our local Sunshine Grocery Store has mock crab on sale fairly often for $2 per 1# package, so this is a very thrifty "fancy" meal.

Crab Cakes
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 eggs
1teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1 1/4 cups breadcrumbs (partially toasted and put in food processor)
1 lb mock crabmeat flaked
1/2 Package Ritz crackers finely crushed

Mix all ingredients together except the Ritz cracker crumbs.
Make into patties – this recipe will make about 8-10 patties.
Put Ritz cracker crumbs on a plate or shallow dish and put each patty in and turn, so it is coated evenly. Fry in oil until golden brown.
Serve with a dab of salad dressing or mayo. This was a recipe I found on recipezaar.com, but modified for my use. I believe it was a copy cat recipe for Joe's Crab Shack Crab Cakes.
If you try the recipe, please let me know what you think.

ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THE HOLIDAYS?

2007-12-21T18:00:00.001-06:00

Finally Friday work is over and the week end has started. Everyone is so busy this time of year....NOT ME! Well........ that is after I do my laundry, sweep and mop floors, dust the livingroom, vacuum rugs, make a few small gifts, finish chipping the ice off the end of the driveway, dig out the dishes and accessories for the Christmas eve table, grocery shop, and add a few tasks for the new year to my Evernote lists.

Christmas has been difficult since my Mom pasted away. In the last few years my daughter and I were still grieving. Last year we decided we needed to forget the past and start fresh with new traditions for just the two of us. Being the girls we are, we decided we would splurge and have anything we wanted for our Christmas eve dinner.

This year I actually did a bit of decorating in the livingroom. I have always loved to decorate the tree and house, but with just me, it does not seem worth all the effort. Putting it all up is such fun, but taking it down and storing it all away is just too much work. Actually I have enough decorations to decorate a few homes, but this year I put out all the snow men ornaments and my daughter contributed her 3 scrawny prelite trees. You know the ones that are 3 different sizes and very tall, but not real full? I love those trees! Unfortunately I did not have allot of smaller ornaments, so they are not FULL like I usually decorate my trees. One of my new year projects will be to make smaller ornaments. (I better put that on my TO DO list.)

Most of the decorations are contained in the livingroom and a few in the diningroom. Decorating the table should be fun, as I want to do a theme of gold glitz. That should light up our spirits!

It is hard to keep to a budget for gifts as my daughter keeps changing her list or adding to it. A few months ago I told her not to buy me anything I do not really NEED. (Stuff accumulates all too fast and it has raced into my house and garage.) ENOUGH!

I am excited to open my gifts and see what she thinks I really need. She knows my gifts to her are going to be useful and what she really needs.

We discussed what I wanted to buy her, which is paint for the interior for her house, so she knows she is getting that. Daughter had been living out of the city and renting her house, then lived with me for a bit. The color on the walls has to be the most awful color I have ever seen AND DEPRESSING. Who ever said there was no bad color, just the wrong color, sure never saw this one! So in addition to the paint, I am going to help her paint the interior again. This will be the 3rd time! It will be a good "bonding" time, as she calls it. Good thing I love to paint.

I hope all of you will have a bit of time to stop and smell the pine of the trees, taste the candy canes and give a big hug to all those who are important to you. Happy Holidays!

SCRAP PAPER CALENDARS

2007-12-16T09:56:00.000-06:00

Scratch Paper, Booklets, Calendars

There are a lot of things to do with scrap paper. Way before the computer and the mounds of paper from junk mail I was reusing scrap paper bound together as tablets of paper. This method can also be used to “bind” a number of projects. Kids can make little books, or you might want to print out your favorite poems and bind them for little gifts. I am sure you will come up with a lots of ideas.

This week end I decided to make a few calendars for the house. (For some reason I am not getting any in the mail from business as we did years ago.

You will need:

Paper cutter (optional, but handy)
Several wooden sticks or small wooden slats (this was small, so I used to paint sticks.)
Clamps: Paper binders, C clamps, Rubber Bands etc
White Glue
Scrap paper cut to the same size

Straighten the paper edges and put between the two wooden sticks.

Leave about 1/8 sticking above the wood. Clamp the ends so the paper is tightly squished between the wooden sticks. Apply a thin layer of white glue to the top edges where you want the “binding” and spread out with your finger. Put another clamp on the middle if needed. Allow the glue to dry, then reapply 4-5 times leaving time for it to dry between coats. Take the pad of paper out and you have a tablet, or in this case a bound calendar you can tear the pages off.

These calendars were done using MSWord clipart to make a nice background, then glued the “tablet” of calendar pages on. The calendar pages were done in Excel, which took a bit of arranging and rearranging of pages to get the sizes I wanted. If you use the print preview feature you can get a good idea of the size you are making. There are sites you can download calendar pages.

If the backing is not heavy enough you can glue it onto poster board. I used card stock and some fancy paper for a few of the calendars. You could also put them in a frame to give them more importance.

If you come up with more ideas leave a comment!

DECORATOR BOOK - Part 3

2007-12-16T08:50:00.000-06:00

A decorating book can be as simple as a big brown envelope to a very elaborate, beautifully decorated book. (What a way to use your scrap booking skills!) The nice thing is that once it is done it will last you for many years. It is up to you to decide what all you are going to use it for and how involved you want to get. You may find over time your needs change, so it is ok to start out simple and after you have made your choices you can put it in a nice permanent type organizer or binder. There are companies who sell decorator files which are great for ideas, but are rather expensive and you can put one together which will fit your needs for a lot less money.

If you are starting from scratch developing your room you can now start by laying out your samples and start putting together what all works well for you and the look you are going for. Make a list of the things you are going to need for each room. Sit down and sort them out by rooms if you are doing more than one room. The idea is to develop your color palette before you go out and buy.

If you already have a start on decorating your room round up samples of your décor and organize for new purchase or redo. When it is time to repaint or buy new furniture, etc. you are ready to go!

IDEAS OF WHAT TO USE:

It is best to make it portable as possible because you will take it shopping with you. The easier it is to grab and go the better!

Large brown envelope for each room. On the outside you can tape or glue the floor plan and other pertinent measurements.

Portable file box with hanging files to keep all the envelopes organized.

A tote bag works too.

Accordion file sorted by room or have a small file for each room and use the dividers for different things as paint samples, flooring, pictures, floor plan and ideas.

3 ring binder or Day Planner or organizer
Add pocket pages and page protectors for your floor plan, pictures, or pages you feel would work well for you.
To hold carpet or flooring samples you can use large baggies and punch holes in the side of them. (I suggest putting a strip of duct tape on both sides of the baggie to strengthen the holes.)
With this style you can add graph paper and note paper to keep all kinds of info.

HINT: If you are using the same paint, carpeting through out your home, you can have one envelope for the common items.

Rather than repeat what someone else has said, I am providing you with the sites and a few comments from my experience as a decorator/redesigner and former sales person.

About.com has great articles on decorating; how to put together a decorating book and starting the project .

FLOOR PLANS: It is essential to have a floor plan of the room, even a quick rudimentary drawing is better than nothing. One of the best sites I have found to show you how to draw a floor plan is from the interiordezine site, which has a lot of wonderful information.
There are a number of website on which you can do a nice neat floor plan online, save it for later or print it out. You will still need all your measurements to use their floor planners. So get your tape measure out and go to it!!!

Hint: If you do not have any ¼” graph paper you can easily make some in Excel by clicking the upper left corner of the spreadsheet to highlight it, then using your curser on the top move the columns to 24 pixels, then the rows to the same. Set the print margins to .25 with no headers or footers. Highlight a one page area and use the border tool to make the grid lines and print.

Samples, Swatches and Chips:

Above is an example of my upstairs bathroom pages. The left is a piece of the wallpaper boarder, to the left is the fabric for my window and shower curtains, a paint chip of the wall color and a small sample of the tile.

PAINT SAMPLES:

HINT: It is easier to pick a paint color after you have the chosen the furniture. You also need to see how the paint will coordinate with your woodwork and flooring. Your paint and fabric samples should be large enough to give a good indication of color, pattern etc. A little paint chip is not really big enough to give a good idea of the real color, so paint a sturdy piece of cardboard at least 5”X7” with your wall color. (Use two coats if necessary, to have the true color of the walls. This is essential for each room in your house book.

FABRIC SAMPLES: If you are able to get fabric samples of what you have chosen. If you are buying new furniture or using furniture you already have, I would suggest you get samples of the fabric, or take a cushion or arm cover with you to pick out paint, other furniture etc.

FURNITURE: It is great to look at on the web, but I do not want to buy anything I have not actually looked at and sat on. Fabric quality, construction and size is important. Look at the websites of your local stores and find out the brands they sell. Usually they have fabric samples to check out or will let you take home an arm cover or cushion. Use all your samples to eliminate what will not work!

Measure your old furniture to determine what sizes will work for you. You also can make little templates of them to use on your floor plans to arrange your furniture without moving it.

WINDOWS TREATMENTS: You will also want the measurements of your windows if you are going to do window treatments. Ready-made draperies come in standard lengths of 54", 63", and 84". A catalog, as JC Penney’s had a great section to help you do this. If you have window treatments you will want to take a valance or some sort of sample of the color and texture, even a matching paint chip of the color is helpful.

FLOORING AND WOODWORK SAMPLES: Make sure you have a flooring sample when purchasing furniture and paint etc. If you do not have a woodwork sample, use a stain brochure for an example. If you have an area rug you will be using, take a picture of it. Several of the rugs I purchased had a picture of it on the label so I saved it for the book.

PHOTOS & PICTURES:
When buying furniture and accessories it is good to take a few of the pictures you have collect of the look you are going for. This will give the sales people a good idea of what you are doing. This makes it much easier than trying to explain.

Sometimes it is good to take pictures of your room from all angles or of the furniture or other furnishings you are already working with.

You will have all the tools you need to shop. Please enlist the aide of a salesperson to help you. If you do not feel you are connecting with the salesperson….find a different one!

Sort and put all your samples into your decorator book and get to decorating!!! If you have any questions, please leave me a comment or email me.

DECORATING BOOK Part 2

2007-12-08T11:13:00.000-06:00

PREPLANNING:

It is important to have a good idea of what style or look you want before you go out and buy anything. There are many styles and most of us use a combination of them to express our individuality. What is your style?

Like any project… decorating takes planning. The plan will help you spend your time and money wisely. You do not want to buy a piece of furniture or paint walls a color which will look totally out of place with that you already have going or will not fit into the look you want. Even with eclectic interiors, you can ruin a look using the wrong piece or color.

As a sales person, I was always amazed how unprepared customers were to shop. They were ready to buy, but really had no idea what they wanted and could not express what look they were going for. Sales people can be a real asset if you can give them a good idea of what you want. If you can show them a few pictures, a fabric swatch etc. they can show you what will work, and give you other suggestions and ideas. Sales people are trained to question you so they can find you what you need. If you are prepared this will speed the process! They will not have to probe you with questions and take you all over the store to get the idea of what you want.

WHERE TO START:
Start by collecting pictures from decorator and women’s magazines. This link will take you to a great article about how to “read” a decorator magazine. Learn how to get the most out of using photos and articles.

The internet has a wealth of photos collections for inspiration and putting together what you love. Also the sites feature the latest decorator trends. These are a few of the ones I find very helpful.

HGTV
Better Homes & Gardens
Creative Home
Style At Home

You might also look at some of the decorator magazine sites for pictures. Here are a few to get you started:
Traditional Home
House Beautiful
Pure Contemporary

Décor & Style
Country Living

HINT: When I start a project I collect pictures from websites and put them into a file on my hard drive. Later I go thru them and create PowerPoint presentations with pictures and notes. (You could also put them in a Word document with notes.) Personally I like PowerPoint because then I can flip thru them and they are easy rearrange and share with others. Later you can print them for your decorator book and shopping. Some great sites have photo collections of rooms and are invaluable because they are very up to date.

JUST WINDOW SHOPPING:

Take notes of what you have seen where and if you pick up samples put a note on them what it is: the collection, color name or number and price…and of course where you saw it. After looking for awhile it is all going to run together in your head.

To start you might stop in the paint departments or stores for paint chips, wall paper and look over the displays of faux finishes, and the sheen of the paints. Collecting paint chips is a great way to match up more than paint. I have a very unusual finish on my bedroom set, so I have found a paint chip that matches the color, although not the exact finish. This furniture limits the colors I can use in my bedroom…but I absolutely have loved it for 35 years!

You can also find great ideas on room colors and trends on the paint manufactures sites:
Benjamin Moore
Sherwin Williams
Glidden

HINT:Most have areas you can play with rooms and change the color online, which is fun and entertaining. Also some paint manufactures have small jars of samples for you to purchase. Then you can actually paint a poster board and try it up on your walls before you paint.

Of course there is Wal Mart, which I like, but not everyone does. Then there is Sears and a multitude of local paint stores. I guess my favorite paint has been Diamond Vogel , but it is a bit spendy and not available every where.

Check out furniture stores to see what is available and what stores have the styles you like.

HINT: You might even take pictures of the furniture using your digital camera or cell phone camera. (I love technology!!!) Please keep in mind furniture changes, just like clothing, so if you think you can come back a year later to buy, you will be disappointed. In other words….go thru the stores that you think might have what you will be looking for.

Home improvement stores you can pick up samples of flooring: Carpet, tile, vinyl, laminate or wood. Say you are out looking at woodwork pick up brochures of stains, this will come in handy later when you are looking at wood furniture etc. Don’t forget to check out the lighting fixture or bathroom hardware areas if you are going to need them. This will also give you an idea of what metal finishes are popular.

HINT: While looking at flooring or counter tops etc.get a small sample of the material. Use an adhesive label on the back of it with the store name, what it is called and color number etc. Do not trust you will remember all of the info, as it is humanly impossible.

Save sale flyers from home improvement and furniture stores as a reference of what is available and the cost.

Most larger cities have home shows several times a year and hold open houses on new construction. These events can give you great ideas and a way to collect brochures, and learn about the resources available in your area.

Perhaps you have seen a sumptuous fabric in a fabric store, you might buy a swatch. Also furniture stores have fabric samples you can check out and look at them at home in your lighting. Sometimes it will be a great inspiration for the color pallet you want.

Catalogs are a wonderful place to get ideas of window treatments and other soft furnishings, as bedding, throws, pillows and rugs. Invest in a JCPenny’s catalog, as you can use the information about window treatment sizes etc. for your curtain and drapery needs.

Well this should get you started on your preplanning phase. If you have questions please email me or leave a comment.

Part 3 will be on what to do with all that STUFF you have collected and what else you might want to do to organize and prepare for your project.

A DECORATING BOOK - Part 1

2007-12-02T10:54:00.000-06:00

This is kind of a pet project for me and a rather long one, so it will be presented in parts. Decorating is my passion. I want to share with you some of my ideas, information and experience.

What is a home decorating book?
Basically it is a collection which will help you determine what will fit into your home decor. It gives you the necessary tools to make good decisions when decorating and buying things for your home. Many of the purchases you will live with a long time so you do not want to make costly mistakes.

Making a home book does take time and organization, but it will make your life a lot easier for many years. If you are building a new residence, redecorating, repainting, buying furniture or just adding accessories you will appreciate the convenience of having a decorating book.

Why do you need a home decorating book?
Having worked in a fabric store, a drapery department and several furniture stores, I have seen a need for people to get organized so they have the information to make good buying decisions, save money, time and energy. This is especially true if you are design challenged and want the help of a professional sales person or friends.

These are true life examples, which happen more often than you may think.
Having room measurements is a great help, as is the measurement of your old sofa etc. as it aids you to buy the right furniture. Think of how disheartening it would be to buy a new sofa and find the delivery people can not get it into your home; the doors are too small, or there is not enough clearance to take it up a flight of stairs or there is one too many corners to go around. (Furniture seems to looks “smaller” in a furniture store than in your home due to the large area it is setting in.)

You get the new furniture delivered and find there is very little room to walk or it looks out of place because it is too small or large for the space or does not look right with what you already have. I had a couple buy a sofa, loveseat, large chair and ottoman, only to find the room did not have room to walk. The loveseat and ottoman were returned. If they had taken the time to draw a floor plan, I could have helped them see how the furniture would fit. Even sketching or taking measurements of where the windows, heat vents and plug-ins are, you can save yourself a lot of grief. Having the measurements of how high the windows are from the floor can be helpful, as then you know how high a sofa can be etc.

When people would come in to buy window treatments they would say they wanted curtains to fit a “standard” size window. Yes, windows do come in a variety of sizes and shapes, so it is imperative to know the correct size and how much wall space you have on each side for the draw of the drapery, also the correct width of the window to know how many panels you will need. It is also good to know what length you want. Do you want them to go to the edge of the window sill, to the floor or from the ceiling to the floor? Draperies and curtains do come in standard sizes, but you need to know how many panels you need and the lenght to give you the look you want.

Another instance is people think they have a good idea of what color something is that they want to match or coordinate. A couple wanted to purchase a sofa in a neutral “light brown” and a chair in a coordinating print. They stated they had new carpeting that was beige and the walls were painted off white so any light brown tones would work. I asked them if they had brought a carpet sample in. They replied they had not, but KNEW (in their mind’s eye) the color of the carpeting.

Well the human eye can distinguish about 10 million colors, so do not think there is anyone will actually remember a specific color. Also there are a number of factors which affect colors, as other colors in the room and the natural and electrical lighting. The couple picked out a sofa and wanted to purchase it on the spot. I insisted they take a few samples of fabric home and see how it looked with the paint and carpeting. Very begrudgingly they did and the next day they came in and thanked me for making them take samples home, as the fabric looked terrible. They still did not bring in a carpet sample, but took a number of samples home until they found just the right shade. They could have saved themselves a number of trips if they had a carpet and paint sample with them, as we could have eliminated a number of samples before they took them home. (A good sales person, who has your interest at heart, will ask you a lot of questions and make suggestions based on the info you have given them... the others are just there to sell you something.)

To buy flooring, paint or wall paper you need to have the dimensions of the room to determine how much you will need.

Different types and colors of paints may cover more or less square footage. An example is if you are going to cover a light colored wall with a deep color you might want to buy a pre-colored primer to use before then you will not have to use as many coats of paint. Carpeting comes in 12 and 15 ft rolls and is sold by the square foot or square yard so you will need to have the square footage of the room to see if you will need several pieces and where the seam might be placed.

For most of us decorating is an ongoing process and we can not afford to buy everything at once. Most of us decorate in stages and add just the "right pieces" as we find them. Some of us do not have a decorating gene, so you need the decorating info to take with you for assistance. This all will save you alot of grief and from making a costly mistake you might have to live with a number of years.

Ok, so I have I convinced you that you need to have your very own decorating book?

In the next part I will give you examples of what you need to put in YOUR book and why, then ways you can put your information together to use.

In Praise of Rags

2007-11-27T20:18:00.000-06:00

Sorry I have been so lax on posting lately. Seems like I have not had alot of creative energy for writing, but have been busy cooking, cleaning and getting a few Christmas gift ideas together. With all the cleaning, I started thinking about how I love my rags.

Some of my friends have said I have the nicest rags in town. Guess that is my claim to fame, albeit not a very distinguished one.

I am from the era before paper towels. When did paper towels show up in kitchens and cleaning buckets anyway? When I was growing up we did not have paper towels because we had hand towels to wipe our wet hands on, dishtowels for drying dishes and rags under the sink for cleaning and absorbing spills. They were changed and washed regularly. Yes paper towels are a convenience, although… one I have never really gotten into using, except for an occasional bit of cat barf or dog poo.

One rag will do the job of 4-5 paper towels. If you do not have old towels or clothes to make into rags you can buy a pack of cheap wash cloths or shop rags and they will last you for years. In my way of thinking paper towels are an unnecessary item and extra cost. It is like throwing away money. I have heard you can shred or wet them and use them in compost, but have not tried it.

My rags are mostly from terrycloth towels which no longer matched my décor or became too worn and tattered for daily use. They were cut to a manageable size, which means small enough to wring out, but large enough to do the job. The edges are zigzagged on my sewing machine. Over the years I found that if they were edge stitched they lasted a lot longer. Then I did not have to untangle them when the edges became frayed and wound their raveled strings to other pieces of laundry. Then they have a new home in my rag hamper in the laundry room or under the bathroom and kitchen sinks.

I have rags that are used exclusively for certain purposes, like those I will use with furniture polish, which are kept in a metal coffee can, as they could be flammable. Floor cleaning or bathroom cleaning rags are only used for those purposes. Then they are washed with bleach or soaked in bleach before washing. The rags that are very worn out are used to polish shoes, clean the dogs muddy feet or clean up nasty messes and then are thrown out. My old cotton dishtowels which get stained and grubby looking are saved and used when I clean mirrors, glass top tables and do windows.

So what does one do with a dirty rag? Rinse them out, let them dry and wash them with other grubby laundry. The ones that are used for heavy duty cleaning are washed with rugs. Like when we used cloth diapers you can put them in a bucket of water with soap and a bit of bleach until you are ready to wash them.

I have never kept sponges, as I feel they breed germs, although I have read you can microwave them a few minutes and kill anything living in them.

In my kitchen I have a terry cloth hand towel for wiping my wet hands on and a dishtowel for drying my dishes, as I do not have a dishwasher. (Usually the dishes are not wiped but air dried.) They are changed every few days and all washed once a week. It is still possible to find the nice cotton muslin dishtowels at Wal-Mart. Gone are the days when the young ladies embroidered the days of the week on the dishtowels for their hope chests.

When walking down the cleaning supply aisles in the stores I am amazed what people pay for all the new cleaning gadgets and stuff, when a rag would work solve the cleaning problem. They are fun to try, but I always go back to my old rags and not continue to buy and buy.

SCOTCH EGGS

2007-11-05T19:20:00.000-06:00

This is a recipe which I have not made for ages, but use to make quite often. Tonight my daughter and I had it for dinner with green beans. Acutally it is great for breakfast, but we love breakfast for dinner. The sauce is very easy to overcook, so watch it closely. I like to add more dry mustard so it is a bit spicier. Also I love to use the spicy/hot sausage when I make this.

Scotch Eggs with Mustard Dipping Sauce

½ lb. roll of spicy or regular sausage
6 T. bread crumbs
1 egg, slightly beaten
4 hard cooked eggs, peeled
1 can (4oz.) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
Mustard Dipping Sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, combine sausage, bread crumbs and egg, mixing well. Divide sausage mix into 4 equal parts, shaping into 4 patties. Wrap one patty completely around on egg. Place in an ungreased 8-9 in. square pane. Bake 15 minutes. Drain eggs on paper toweling or paper. Cool 10 minutes for easier handling. Reduce oven to 375 degrees. Separate dough into 4 triangles. Press out each triangle to enlarge slightly. Place sausage-wrapped egg in center of each triangle. Roll up, starting in starting at shortest side of triangle, gently wrapping dough around egg and rolling to opposite point. Pinch edges of dough to seal and completely cover egg. Place in an ungreased 8-9 in. pan and bake 12-15 minutes or until brown.

Mustard Dipping Sauce
2 T. dry mustard
1 T. sugar
2 T. cider vinegar
1 egg slightly beaten
¼ c. mayonnaise
In small saucepan over low heat, combine mustard, sugar, vinegar and egg, mixing well. Cook 2-3 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Refrigerate 10-15 minutes. Stir in mayonnaise. Makes 1/3 cup.
From Woman’s Day Meals In Minutes July 1987

We were looking at this magazine over the week end and found wonderful recipes to try. Yes, it really is from July of 1987. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

WONDERFUL WORLD OF FLEECE

2007-10-30T20:14:00.000-05:00

Maggie Mae, my Chihuahua, came with a fleece blanket all her own. She was born in January, so needed a nice warm blanket to come home with me. I have never figured out why the blanket was about 60” x 60” for puppy less than a pound. To this day it is still her favorite blanket! (Jackson came to live with me in June and did not come with his own blanket, but he immediately received one out of my fabric stash.) Now the Chihuahuas and I have numerous fleece blankets we snuggle under all winter.

What is fleece? Fleece has great wicking properties, which mean it pulls moisture away from your body and keeps you warm. Supposedly it is made out of recycled plastics, so is a green material. A quality piece of fleece will not wear out for many years. Lower quality pieces may pill after a few washing and not look as nice, but is still wearable.
There are different weights and grades of fleece, so you might want to investigate what would work best for you. Fleece is a very economical fabric.

If you are thinking of gifts for someone elderly or a young child you can easily make something warm and wonderful from fleece. Fleece is very durable and washable, so great for babies and for nursing home residents.
If you have a very tall family member make them a throw that is longer than the usual purchased ones. They will appreciate one they can tuck around their toes and put up to their noses!
I have never met and dog or cat of any size who did not love fleece blankets. Give them one of their very own to lay on the couch?
If you are a couch potato or live with one a fleece throw is a MUST!

Being a Chihuahua in the winter cold really sucks! Maggie has more fur than Jack, but both do not like the temperature I keep the house. They have their beds, each with a heating pad on low and a pile of fleece blankets to burrow under and stay toasty. They also have a variety of coats to wear around the house. This site is for a free dog coat pattern, which I used for their coats. (Jack really prefers to be tucked inside my robe rather than wearing some stupid coat.)

Also I have a red and black plaid fleece robe which I wear more than anything else all winter. When I come home from work, I change clothes immediately and usually put on my “house” clothes or my nightgown and robe. I had always been a fan of the heavy terry cloth robes until I started wearing fleece and find that it is warmer and more comforting.

If you like to sit and read in bed or watch TV a fleece bed jacket is a great idea or gift for someone. For years it was difficult to find a bed jacket, but it seems they are back in vogue. They seem a bit pricy, especially if you sew. It would be a nice winter sewing project.

You can make yourself a shawl with just 18 -20 inches wide and the usual 60”, just cut a bit of fringe on the edge. Use only 6-8” and you have a scarf. How simple can it get?

In the winter I use a small throw to wrap around my shoulders in bed, as I do not like to have my arms under the covers, so this works well for me. I can snuggle and still use the remote.

Keep a few throws or pieces of fleece in your vehicle for winter emergencies or picnics in the summer. (At the end of the winter season the fleece throws usually go on sale for very little.)

Fleece is very versatile and easy to work with. You do not have to be a seamstress to make nice looking throws etc, as fleece does not ravel or fray. You can just cut fringe into the edge. There was a trend for awhile to use two layers of fleece, cut a fringe into it all the way around and tie each fringe together from each color, thus having one blanket. Personally a double thickness of fleece is too warm for me.

When I have tried to just hem stitch fleece, I am never happy with the appearance of the edge. Some people use a Lycra blanket type binding to finish off the edges. It is possible to crochet or blanket stitch around all the edges to give them a neat appearance, but it is necessary to puncture a hole in the edge so you can get a needle or the crochet hook thru.

Several years ago I wanted to make a special gift for my favorite cousin who had cancer. I decided to make her a fleece blanket. I purchased about 2 yards of 60” wide fleece in white and a nice chenille yarn to crochet a lacy edging round it. I wanted it rather feminine and elegant, even if it was only lowly fleece blanket. After trying a number of methods to get the hook thru the fleece I found that if I used my seam riper and put little holes in the edge I could get the crochet hook thru. First I cut the selvage edge off, then proceeded to put small holes in the edges about 3/8 – ½ inches from the edge and spaced about ½ inch apart. This allowed me to first crochet a blanket type stitch for the base of the “lace” edge. Though it was a tedious job, it was a labor of love and IMO it turned out very nice.

For some other ideas for using fleece visit this great projects site for more ideas.

Hope you stay toasty this winter!

WINTER COLD & FLU SEASON

2007-10-28T13:17:00.000-05:00

As you can tell, I am getting snuggled in for winter. When my last water bill came it had a flyer in from our local health department talking about being prepared for a flu epidemic. It might be something you all want to think about: from my understanding it is not if this pandemic hits, it is when.

A good link to get you started is this government site or Ready America. Many of us have the misconception our government will take care of us and will have the situation under control... Katrina proved that to be untrue. We would like to think there will be plenty of flu shot doses for the population, but that may not be realistic. From reading about this new flu strain, it is impossible to plan ahead to make the flu serum because the strain mutates and is impossible to develope a serum to keep up with it.

MAKING A WINTER COLD/FLU KIT
You might want to put together a winter cold/flu basket for your family or friends. Besides the mixes for gifts as in my previous post, you might want to add and a few comfort items like a rice bag or heating pad, tissues (with a nice tissue holder), chicken soup (either canned or dried), cough drops, cold meds (if you know what the person uses), and be sure to add a bottle of hand sanitizer for a winter cold/flu survival kit.
If you want to make your own soup mix you might try: Chicken Rice Soup Mix from All Recipes. Another site for mixes and great ideas to get creative juices flowing is budget 101.
Recently I ran across a recipe for rehydration liquid for dehydration, which can be a real serious issue when you are sick. This also can be prepared as a mix.

It is important to learn how to wash your hands and teach your children also.

Homemade Hand Sanitizer: If you read the ingredients for hand sanitizers you will find it is mostly rubbing alcohol, water and petroleum jelly. Mix 2 parts rubbing alcohol, one part water and enough petroleum jelly to make it like a gel. Put in a pump bottle and use as the “store bought” sanitizer.

I believe many of us urban dwellers do not think about the possibilities of natural disasters, especially in my part of the country, where we have an occasional tornado, flood or a killer snowstorm. Many of our rural folks have a plan in effect to deal with power outages etc, but I wonder how many of us urban dwellers do. About.com has great ideas of emergency cooking preparedness. There are alot of people who do not have a well stocked pantry and supplies to last a few weeks. Could you survive for 2 weeks of what you have in your pantry? It does not hurt to be prepared, not just for flu, but for any natural disaster that might happen!

We need to get our heads out of the clouds and think of the realities of living in our modern world. I think one of my projects this fall will be to get better prepared.

COOL WEATHER - HOT DRINKS

2007-10-28T09:26:00.000-05:00

October in South Dakota has been the warmest on record. Usually we have our first frost on the 6th, but this year we had our 1st frost last night. I am not sure how hard it actually froze, but the tomato plants were drooping this morning. The tomato plants have been confused and have done better this month than all of the summer. They are overgrown and were still blooming a few weeks ago. Last week I brought in a few green ones in and wrapped them in newspaper to see if they would turn red. To my amazement, when I checked them yesterday they were very red! Today I am going to pick the rest of them. Think I will freeze them and make tomato soup later.

The cooler weather makes me think it is time for hot drinks as a cup of hot chocolate before bed or a warming cup of spiced tea after dinner. There is nothing as wonderful as a cup of homemade cocoa from Hershey’s chocolate. As a child, my daughter loved it when I made it from scratch. It has a very rich taste.

Hot Chocolate Mix
3 c. powdered sugar
8 oz. non fat dry milk
16 oz. any instant chocolate powder (like Nestlé’s)
6 oz. any non dairy creamer Mix ingredients and store in an air tight container.
Use 3 T. per cup of water.

You can add a large box of chocolate instant pudding to make it richer.
To make a gourmet mix you might add a bit of cinnamon, either power or a stick of cinnamon. Mint it with a peppermint candy or candy cane, or a bit of extract. It is a great way to use all the candy canes from Christmas. Add a few teaspoons of instant coffee for a mocha chocolate.

This recipe has been around for ages, as I remember making it in college in the late 60’s.
Spiced Tea or Russian Tea Mix
2 c. Tang
1 c. sugar
¾ c instant tea
2 scoops of lemonade mix.
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. cloves
Mix ingredients and store in an air tight container. Use a few Tablespoons to ¼ cup in hot or cold water. Personally I like this hot.

HOT SPICED TEA MIX
1/2 c. instant tea
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 (1 lb. 2 oz.) jar Tang
2 pkg. lemonade mix
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Mix all ingredients together. Store in air tight container. To serve, use 2 teaspoons of mix in a cup of boiling water.

Put the mix in a nice container; add a pretty mug (from the dollar store) and a few homemade goodies and you have a great gift.

END OF AN ERA

2007-10-21T08:55:00.000-05:00

Sunday mornings are great for sitting in bed, having a good cup of coffee and watching CBS "Sunday Morning". They present a variety of pleasant commentaries in a quiet way, which is a nice change from all the hype and horrific news we hear during the week.

One of this morning's segments was about the Maytag Company located in Newton, Iowa, which is just a bit east and north of Des Moines. It is a small Midwest community and the Maytag family had started there in 1893. As you can imagine Maytag supported many households in the community. I believe they said 1 out of 5 people worked there over the years. The family sold the company in 1962 and continued with their cheese business.

In the last years, I believe Whirlpool owned the company and they have decided it is no longer profitable so are closing it down. I believe they have gone from 3000 employees to now 300 and are closing shortly. Of course former employees have had to find other employment and the town is hoping to attract other businesses to fill the huge empty buildings. Seems this is very common across the country these days.

Is there anyone who does not know the lonely guy in the blue service suit known as the Maytag repairman? The company was built on the idea of reliability of their appliances. How many companies can say that these days? We have become such a throw away society, and in my opinion, have we come to accept many goods will not last as long as they did in the past.

When you buy a new appliance you are offered an extended service contract or warranty. What is up with that? A few years ago I was looking at washers and dryers in Sears and was asked if I wanted the extended warranty on them? I asked the salesman if the appliances is so poorly made that I was going to need it? He just stuttered and stammered on that one.

My washer was about 18 years old and dryer was 30 years. I think I had 2 or 3 repair calls in all those years. My furnace was 40 years old, still running, but barely and definitely not energy efficient. When the guys took it out and set it on the driveway the rust on the outside covering literally fell of in large chunks. The new furnace is energy efficient and has a 3 year warranty. Several people have assured me I would not get 40 years out of it.

So why is that we are not producing products of quality and longevity as the ones from the past? I think it is so we all have to spend more money... and there are big profits for the manufactures. Of course I could go into how all the manufacturing has moved out of the country and there is alot of shoddy workmanship and cheaply made products to put money in the pockets of the big companies...that is another soapbox topic, which I will save for later.

If you care about products made in the US watch John Ratzenberger's "Made in America" on the travel channel. You might remember him as the know-it-all postman in "Cheers". I wonder how hard he has to look for companies who still make their products in the US.

This got me thinking; what ever happened to the Gerber babies and Mr. Whipple who was the character for Charmin? Gezzz, my age is showing. Hope you all have a great Sunday morning!

ARE YOU GETTING FLAKEY?

2007-10-17T18:30:00.000-05:00

Winter is not my favorite season, so it is time to get into my hibernation mode. A few weeks ago the humidifier came in from the garage, although it is still sitting in its box. The furnace comes on occasionally and it will not be long before the air is dry. In the winter....not good. Trying to get just the right humidity level seems like a difficult task every year. So I thought I would do a little reading on humidity and the indoor environment. This was a very informative article as it gives you charts of temps and humidity levels.

To tell if you need humidity in the air a test is to put ice cubes in a room temperature glass of water. If the glass forms sweat beads form on the outside of the glass with in 5-15 minutes, you have enough humidity in the house.

There are allot of ways to get moisture into the air in your house besides running a humidifier.

Boil water on the stove.
Open the dishwasher and let the steam come out.
Leave the bathroom door open when you shower.
Hang laundry and let it dry (a very cost effective method).
Water the house plants.
Put pans of water by the heat registers.
Hang wet towels and air dry.
Use a spray bottle of water (add vinegar and you have a deodorizer and disinfectant spray).

Why? It is healthier for you and the house if you have a good level of moisture in the air.

From personal experience, I would not live with out a humidifier of some sort. My skin dries out and I get "flakier" than usual. The furniture dries out will crack or the finishes start to crackle, this also happens to the woodwork. We all need to be "oiled" once in awhile too, but that is another topic I will attempt at another time!

TUNA PATTIES WITH CREAM SAUCE

2007-10-09T06:06:00.000-05:00

This has been a favorite of mine for many years. It is a very hardy meal and a good change from the usual fare. You may also make it with salmon or crab.

If you’d like, add bits of sautéed onions, green peppers or mushrooms to the patties or the cream sauce.

You can also just do the patties and have tuna burgers, add a slice of cheese and you have tuna melts.

Tuna Patties with Hard Boiled Eggs and Cream Sauce

2 hard boiled eggs – sliced

3 cans of tuna, drained
2 eggs, beaten
8 saltine or Ritz crackers, crushed fine
Salt and Pepper
1/8 t. dill weed (optional)

Mix all ingredients together and form into 4 patties about1/2-3/4’’ thick. If they do not seem to stick together because they are too moist add a few more crushed crackers. Fry in olive oil until brown on each side.

Cream Sauce:
This is just a medium white sauce, but I like to have it rather thick.
2-3 T butter or Margarine
2-3 T flour
1 1/2 c milk
¼ t salt
Pepper to taste
Dash of dill weed (optional)

In a small sauce pan melt butter or margarine. In a small jar mix the flour and rest of ingredients, shake well. Add to the butter and stir well. (Pre mixing the flour and milk helps prevent lumps.) Cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly, then cook a few minutes more. Set aside and keep warm. It is going to thicken up a bit.

Top tuna patties with cream sauce and a few slices of hard boiled egg. This is great served with peas and potatoes.

For those of you who are not experienced cooks: Cream sauce is a basic sauce with a number of uses, as a base for cream soups, milk gravies and many sauces. Add Parmesan cheese and you have Alfredo sauce for pasta or add other cheeses and you have a great sauce for veggies. There are a variety of herbs and spices which are wonderful on pastas also. Use with cooked hamburger over toast or noodles.BE CREATIVE!

FALL IS HERE?

2007-10-06T19:49:00.000-05:00

It was an outstanding day here in South Dakota, and I believe, we might have set a new record for it being 87 degrees today...at least that is the temp the weatherman predicted on the morning weather. One thing about living here is that if you do not like the weather... just wait a minute!

Yesterday after work, I wondered around in the back yard trying to decide what needed to be done today. There were 3 half open long stemmed roses, which I cut and brought in the house. It was a pleasant surprise.

Early this morning it rained, so mowing was put off until the afternoon. Laundry was started then I moved furniture around. I have not quite found the arrangement that is the most functional for me, sometimes it takes awhile of living in the room. The house was so packed with my DD being here, that it feels empty now. All of a sudden it seems like I do not have enough furniture and believe me, that is not the case! It was a good thing the furniture moved today is somewhat smaller in scale so I could do it by myself. It is amazing how creative one becomes when they have to!

This weather has confused the tomatoes as they are getting more blossoms, of course there will not be time for them to form and ripen. While mowing the yard, I noticed there was a small sprig of white flowers on my snowball bush. What the heck is up?

The late morning and afternoon was spent cleaning out the flower beds, cutting down some of the spent flowers, cutting back the honeysuckle and clematis vines, draining the pond and general clean up around the yard. There was allot of stuff I cut back, although I am not sure if I should have just waited until spring. But then, my idea of gardening is "bloom where you are planted and if you make it ok, if not....oh well. The garden is such a jungle that it does not matter a whole lot.

There still is allot to do to get ready for winter, like clean the gutters, which I have been putting off until all the leaves are off the maple tree in front. With the weather being so strange that could be sometime. It is something I HAVE TO DO, or there will be ice dams that form and I will have a big ice slick on the driveway all winter. Cleaning the gutters is one of my least favorite jobs, matter of fact it is little better than cleaning the pond! Every fall when I clean the pond, all I can think of was a saying I heard years ago and it always makes me giggle: It is hard to remember you came to drain the swamp, when you are up to your arse in alligators. How true!

So after a day outside I am tired and am going to enjoy the old English sit-coms on PBS.

Rice Bags - A Multi Purpose Accessory

2007-10-03T21:47:00.000-05:00

I suppose there is not a soul who does not know what a rice bag is, but there might be one, so I will pass this along. Maybe there will be one or two new uses.

Make a small fabric bag, fill it with rice, sew it up, that is all there is to it! You have yourself your very own heating source, and somewhat of a cooling one too.

I would suggest using cotton fabrics, but have used a few other decorator fabrics also. It can made from simple muslin or a nicer decorator fabric with fancy trim. You can even make a little pillow case for it, flannel is nice. (A small pillow cover over a bag of frozen veggies makes a good ice pack too.)

Any fabric used needs to be microwavable. Test it out first if you are not certain. So after you have the rice bag constructed test it out in the microwave for about 30 seconds just to start. Warm it in the microwave for only a minute or two, it does not take long.

Rice will continue to give off a small amount of moisture for a long time. Flax seed also works. Jasmine rice is kind of nice. Some people add spices or dried flowers and have the benefits of an aroma therapy bag too. (Some gals have said they used fleece for the bag and it gets kind of moist, which is good if you want moist heat. Be careful heating them.)

The top one was made tonight. It is about 22" x 14" and was made to go around your shoulders to relieve stress. Not only does the heat help, but the weight of the rice/flax seed seems to feel good too. (A nice neighbor gave me the flax seed and I made her one too.) Just fold it in half to heat it.

The oval is for my bread basket. Just warm it and put a napkin on top of it to keep your buns warm. The other two are just general bags. I like to put channels in them as they hold their shape better. It depends on what you use them for or on.
So what do you do with a rice bag???

Use them in a basket to keep buns warm or in your bed to warm your buns.

Have a small critter that needs some comfort? Wrap the rice bag in a towel and put in a basket with the critter.

Keep your teapot warm; set it under your teapot and cover with a tea cozy. Make a teapot cozy and matching rice bag to keep your tea warm. Well, then there could be matching napkins, placemats….ok, I am getting carried away.

They make excellent hot pads for hot dishes or a casserole. See here is another opportunity for a matching casserole cozy and potholders…. Sorry…

Occasionally I have used one under my plate to keep my food warm.

They make great gifts for the elderly. Have arthritis in your knees or elbows; use your rice bag(s). You can make them with ties and wrap them around your knees so they stay on better. I have even seen hook and loop tape to make them adjustable. Larger ones can be use on your lower back for a backache. If you do not pack the rice in tight you have room for adjusting it on your joints. I have used in on my hands when they are giving me problems from over use. The moist heat of the rice is wonderful!

Are your shoulders tight from stress or sitting at the computer too long? Make a long narrow one you can wrap around your shoulders, but still curl around or fold to fit into the microwave.

Make one to put in a gift basket for someone who needs comfort or is sick. It would be great for someone with a cold to get a nice basket with a rice bag, a matching tissue holder, homemade hot chocolate mix or soup mix and some peppermints. You get the picture anyway!

Make a small one to use has a hand warmer while out shoveling snow. Then use one to warm your feet when coming in from the cold. Put them in your shoes or boots before you put them on.

A small one makes a good wrist pad when using your computer. You do not need to heat it up for this.

I have also made long narrow ones and used them for draft stoppers. (I do not use soybeans in draft stoppers because if they get damp you will find you have a crop of beans growing!)

Need soothing cool in the summer? Put it in the freezer to use on the back of your neck or any swelling.

Need a bean bag for a game? I think a rice bag would work too.

If you give them as a gift, add a note with all the uses. I make 5-6 at a time, as they seem to disappear.

My Soapbox: Why are Americans So Fat

2007-09-30T11:50:00.000-05:00

There are not many issues that will make me get out my soapbox, but the one on the top of my list is how Americans have become a very fat society. So this is a bit of a rant, but it is my blog and I can say whatever my heart desires.

This week I happened upon an investigative report done by CNN, actually I have seen it twice. I was fascinated by the points they brought up about how and why America has become fat. The title is: Fed Up: America’s Killer Diet.

At this point in time I am not over weight, but have been several times in my life and I know why; over eating and eating the wrong foods. Many people eat for comfort, but I am the opposite, so when depressed I lose weight. When I am happy, I love to eat. Maybe that is due to when I am happy I am more social and part of being social is eating. You know, “come on over for dinner or let’s go out to eat”. In the last few years food has become less important and I find it easier to stay somewhat thin.

We all have our addictions; mine is smoking. I have been really ticked off since South Dakota has raised taxes on cigarettes. Why? I had been hearing some of that money was to go to taking care of people who have health issues from smoking. Yes, there are a lot of health issues associated from smoking. I wonder where all the money is going and should find out. I am tired of all the “sin” taxes and think some of it should go to areas which are more detrimental to one’s health.

What are the health issues that stem from over being over weight and how much do they cost us? Years ago I wrote our legislators and asked them why they do not put a tax on all the junk foods and fast foods, as they REALLY are a health hazard. (I also asked them why we are feeding kids junk foods in the schools?) Can you believe I never got a reply? Suppose they thought I was some crack pot?

(I was happy to hear that in the last few years the schools have cleaned up their act considerably, but probably have a ways to go. Maybe a health and nutrition course should be mandatory on a yearly basis? Do they still have Home Ec? It was a good way to learn to cook!)

It does not help when some familiess live on take out/drive thru foods. I know of several families who do just that, and I know there are a lot more out there. Then there are the families who use a lot of convenience foods. You know the prepackaged, heat in the nuker stuff? We all have taken advantage of this wonderful time saver stuff, but do not think about what is in them and how healthy they are for us.

The report on CNN gives an example of Twinkies, which I found interesting. Originally Twinkies were made from sponge cake with flour, sugar, etc. and the cream filling was made with cream. The shelf life was 3 days. To make a longer shelf life they use additives and the shelf life is now 26 days. (I was always told that Twinkies do not have any expiration date and will be here to feed the cockroaches long after we humans blow ourselves off the planet!)

But when you start thinking about all the strange, unpronounceable contents listed on labels, you have to wonder. What are these ingredients which have replaced REAL ingredients, you know; eggs, butter, flour, sugar? Then….how are they affecting our health, not to mention weight?

Another thought from this article is how the concept of “cooking” has changed in the last few decades. Cooking now is viewed more as bringing something home from the grocery store and heating it up or making it from a mix etc. Many people say they do not have time to cook, but start thinking how long it ACTUALLY takes in the grocery store, the drive thru or take out.

My idea of cooking is peeling potatoes and carrots to put in with a piece of meat or poultry in a roaster and it goes into the oven until done. Then I might take the drippings from the roaster to make a bit of gravy. Heart attack on a plate? I am beginning to wonder if it really is, but who am I to question?

(So, mental health experts tell us that the family who sits down to dinner together is good because the kids are less likely to get into trouble or do drugs or alcohol, it is a good thing? When a family sits down at the table with a bucket of chicken or a bag of burgers, does it constitute a family meal? Do people still sit down at the table and have food? Life has changed in the last 25 years.)

What price are we paying for all the convenience? Does it really take longer to cook from scratch? Yes, it does and it takes some planning too. It can be done, if one has the ambition. You also have the opportunity of portion control in this “super sized" world, and that is a major factor in reducing your weight.

There are health benefits of cooking from scratch, then add up the dollars you save from making real food at home, it might be incentive for people to rethink their idea of cooking. Say you want hamburgers for dinner. A pound of burger is $2-3, then the buns about $1, maybe some onion for about $.50 and a bit of catsup and mustard? It is all less than $5 even with the energy used to cook it and wash the dishes. That would give you 4 burgers with out additives or fillers for $1 - $1.25 each. Do you really need the fries?
Please take the time to read the article as it is very enlightening.

OLD CHAIR RESCUE

2007-09-30T09:29:00.000-05:00

I am not sure how it has happened, but old chairs seem to be drawn to me...
ok, I love old chairs.

For years I made all of my own clothes and did alterations for awhile. Now that clothing has gotten so cheap, patterns and fabric expensive, I fit "clothes" on furniture. For anyone who slipcovers, you know what I mean. It is pin, measure, pin, pin, pin and sew for a good fit.
In 1983 we bought a good quality dining room table and chairs.
The chairs to my dining room set were very out of date and not very comfortable. I still love the round pedestal table, but the wooden chairs with all the spindles were not comfortable and a pain to dust. (They look like the ones in Miss Kitty's Long Branch Saloon.) I was looking for new chairs, but did not want to spend alot of money to get quality chairs that would hold together for the rest of my life

A few years ago I was passing the local hotel liquidators and saw parson’s chairs stacked in a pyramid in their front window. I could not pass without stopping. I made a deal with the owner came home with 8 of them. I really only needed 4, as I do not entertain much anymore.

Over the past few years I recovered a few of them and sold them, as they were a nice chair for small spaces. Mine just sat in the dining room looking tacky. They were turquoise and a bit stained, but I wanted just the right fabric for them. They are comfortable and very sturdy. (The legs were originally a dark blonde.)

I decided to start out with a removable and washable slipcover. I loved them, but after awhile the wall color was changed and I wanted a more old world look. The fabric covers were too cottage looking. Notice the little pillows for back support. Of course the diningroom curtains matched for a custom look.

I found the tapestry fabric, but unfortunately there was not enough for the backs and seats. The light stained wood on the legs did not lend itself to being very old world, so I sanded, painted and faux finished a dark wood look on the legs. (I did try to remove the stain and restain, but it just did not work.)

Got the backs done and started to look for the perfect olive green fabric for the seats……I really wanted a dark olive green. That should not be too hard to find, right? WRONG!
Several times I bought yardages in different colors thinking it would work, but I did not like them. A color in the store does not look like the same color when you get it home! (Anyone like spicy coral or teal?) But you can never have enough fabric, right?

2 years later….well, I found some, but it was not upholstery fabric. It is the perfect olive color, but it was not upholstery grade or decorator fabric. Yesterday….I decided that I was tired of looking at the turquoise with the tapestry and just DID IT. I am very happy with them and this will work. They do not get a lot of use, so they may last my lifetime, who knows.

So the point of this chair saga? Decorating is an ongoing process. Once again….recycle, reuse, repurpose, redo! (P.S.My old chairs have a new home at my daughter's house.)

SPOTS BEFORE YOUR EYES

2007-09-25T21:29:00.000-05:00

No your eyes are not decieving you! There are spots all over these days...Spots...leopard spots.

If you notice the fashion trends and decorator trends reflect each other. One of the still popular, and seemingly always popular prints is leopard. It does not take much to add a little class to what you might aready have. Accessories can change the look of a room with minimal cost. Take a look at some of the ideas.

The warm tones of the leopard prints are always a nice addition to any décor in small amounts, as for accents and little detail trims.

Add a leopard throw or pillow to any neutral sofa and you have instant chic!

Paint a little leopard pattern on the front of a drawer or a tray and you have a unique piece of furniture or accessory. (This was an old chest of drawers from my high school days and an armoire top someone had thrown in the trash.The dummies had sawed off the top of an armoire, but then....one person's trash is another person's treasure!!!) Yes, the new armoire was hand painted by me.

Just for a little fun you might visit Horchow and see how leopard is used on upholstered furniture. Not that most of us could afford a fine piece from Horchow, but we can always dream and DIY. A leopard chair definitely makes a big statement.

My master suite bath. I love leopard! >

Painting spots are very simple and time consuming. All you need is a nice warm tan base coast like Maple Sugar Tan. Let it dry, use your brush and make irregular dots in a dark brown like Burnt Umber. Let it dry, using a smaller brush put smaller irregular dots in a mix of the 2 colors or use a medium tone on top of the dark brown dots. Then I usually do a wash over them to antique and soften the edges.

Change the seats on a chair for a more exotic look. Low cost and big pay off!

Before and After

CHICKEN ALFREDO PIZZA

2007-09-24T20:07:00.000-05:00

For awhile this was made at one of the local pizza chains. You could only buy them in the winter for some reason. It is probably my favorite pizza. Most people think it is awesome!!!

Two thin crusts – I usually use Mama Mary’s from Wal Mart
1 jar Alfredo sauce – what ever flavor you would like
2 small can of mushrooms or a cup of fresh mushrooms
1 small can of black olives - chopped or sliced
1 chopped green pepper (optional)
1 large onion – chopped fairly small
1 regular size can of spinach well drained (optional, but try it) or fresh spinach leaves or ½ pkg. thawed frozen, well drained. Squeeze out the extra moisture from the canned or frozen.
1 large chicken breast pre cooked and cut up or 2 cans of chicken (You could also use shrimp instead.)
Italian seasoning
2-4 cups cheese of your choice, but the white cheeses are the best, but I use a mix also.

Precook the raw chicken and chop into about ½ inch pieces. Chop onion, green peppers and mushrooms and sauté until onion and pepper is nearly done. Add chicken to warm it up. Spritz or rub olive oil on crust. Top crust with ½ jar Alfredo sauce for each pizza. Spread on the chicken, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, and spinach. Top with cheeses and sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Bake as directed on the crust package or until done (DUH?). Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

I had a minute to sit and figure what this gourmet treat cost me:

2 Crusts used one, one in fridge $1.74
½ jar Alfredo sauce .55
½ small can black olives .39
½ small onion chopped .25
½ small can mushrooms .27
1-2 cups cheese 1.50
1 small can spinach .82
½ Chicken Breast pre cooked and chopped. $1.50?

Total of LARGE GOURMET pizza $7.02.

So what about the “leftover” stuff?

The rest of the “leftovers” were mixed together and served over egg noodles, which was enough for 2 meals for later in the week. It went into the freezer for my TV dinners. 2 dinners for about $2.40 each. Added a few sliced tomatoes from the garden and a glass of milk.

If I had eaten this meal out I would have paid at least $6 - 8 for the chicken alfredo, several dollars for the milk and there would not have been vine ripened tomatoes!

Yes, it took a bit of thinking of what to make with the “leftovers”, which are not really leftovers at all.

DECORATIVE TISSUE HOLDER

2007-09-23T15:46:00.000-05:00

Yes, some of us have to much time on our hands!

Personally, I love to use that time to make things...it give me great satisfaction to create something out of nothing, so to speak. A few years ago I made these little tissue holders for Christmas presents. They are fun and functional. Of course, mine are a little over the top, but you can make them as simple or ornate as you would like.

This is the detail of how the ends are fastened. You can use buttons and loops or hooks and eyes. Or be creative and come up with something else. Even a thin ribbon tie would work.

If you would like to keep it simple, just use one color of fabric, perhaps some simple braid or rickrack for the trim and ribbon for the closure.

It all starts with nearly a square which is made out of 2 fabrics. It should be about 15 Long and 14 wide. The lighter color will make the stripes on the ends. (That would be the leopard print in my pictures.)

Add a bit of trim on the sides, which will become the edges to the opening where you pull the tissues out. (You are sewing it across the patchwork seams.) With the rightside down, fold the ends to meet in the middle, pin, and sew the ends. You will have an "envelope" type of item. Turn, press and add the buttons or closure of your choice to where the seams meet.

Yes, you take the tissues out of the box before you put them in the tissue holder! This could also be made for the little travel packs for your purse.

LAPTOP BED TRAY

2007-09-23T13:49:00.000-05:00

The older I get the more I become a creature of comfort. After getting my new bed, the portable, over the bed table I had purchased a few years ago, was too short to even clear the mattress top, much less, let me underneath it. (It has been repurposed as my bedroom desk at regular table height.) I dearly love to sit in bed and play on my laptop, but definitely want a table of some sort to sit it on. That laptop gets hot! (Maggie thinks it might be a good doggie shelter too.)
Depending on the size you make, it could be used on top of your favorite chair also.I have tried out several designs out of scrap wood, using my basic woodworking skills. It is not difficult to make, but I am waiting for the day I can really get some nice wood and trim to make a "good" piece of furniture. For now this will do. (The wood was from an old computer desk or entertainment center left by a former roommate. The nice thing is that it really did not cost me anything, as I had the wood, nails and glue.)

I used glue and nails, but I am sure you could also use screws or L brackets etc. This is just an idea to get your started.

This is 15" deep, the taller side of the leg is 9", the shorter side is about 7 1/2". The slope seems to be just right.

The top is 15" x 33", as I like room for my mouse pad, water glass, etc. It could be less, but remember you need to have room for your legs between the legs of the desk.

I used additional pieces underneath for added support, which I think it really needs. All you need to do is add trim and paint.

Talk about living in the lap of luxury, huh?

CHIHUAHUAS

2007-09-23T10:54:00.000-05:00

My friend, Connie asked for pix of the furbabies. Unfortunately, neither of them like to have their pix taken! This is Maggie Mae, who thinks she is a princess and is very camera shy. Maggie is nearly 6 yo. She weights a bit over 4 pounds. Maggie has a great sense of humor and is very verbal. Matter of fact she is sometimes too verbal. Occassionally she will put her front paws on top of my little bedtray computer table and pound her paws as she is "talking" very loudly. I just howl because she is so funny.

This little guy is Jackson Fletcher. Yes, he does look like a min-pin, but is not. He and Maggie are half brother and sister, they have the same Mom. Jack makes Maggies life hell, just as little brothers sometimes do. He loves to run after Mags and nip at her hind leg, then runs off. If she is sitting in a bed, he will get in it too, just to annoy her.

Actually he is a very sweet and loving little guy and my best buddy.When I am home Jack is right with me. He is a little Cling-On. Maggie is more independent.

When their Mom was carrying the litter with Jack, the breeders found out she had cancer and the puppies were taken as soon as they could. Jack was hand raised and that is probably why he is so needy and loves HIS human.

Their Mom is ok and living a very good life. The people I got Jack and Maggie from are wonderful and think the world of their furbabies. The whole house is beautiful and set up for all the Chis. It is like an upscale doggie day care place! They interview any perspective buyers and have been known to say NO, you can not have one of our beautiful babies. It is nice to know there are responsible and caring breeders out there, when all we hear about is the nasty puppy mills.

SEWING ROOM ORGANIZATION

2007-09-23T09:44:00.000-05:00

Since my daughter moved out in August, I have gradually made progress in my quest to reorganize the house. The house seemed to be over loaded with furniture and STUFF, not only from when Amanda moved home, but all the STUFF I had inherited from my Mother’s home, my ex husband’s home and then having a small new and used furniture shoppe. In the past 5 years there have been a lot of changes in my life and household. (I found that it has taken me this long to let go of some of the emotional attachments I have had to my inherited treasures.)

A few weeks ago I tackled reorganizing my sewing room. If you are a sewer, you know how important it is to be organized and be able to find things for the projects you want to do. Being a “fabriholic”, I have always enjoyed just sitting and gazing into my fabric closet. For some reason it gives me great satisfaction to see the yardages neatly placed on shelves and ready for my next project. Unfortunately the room, which is only about 10 x 14, was packed tight and I was feeling rather claustrophobic, so knew it was time to regroup. So, when you do not have floor space, you need to be creative and build up!

Besides the sewing machine cabinet with 3 drawers, I have a number of storage pieces, which I have reused from old furniture I have found over the years. The sewing room has just evolved over the years. I have 2 small chest of drawers that were bought in the 70’s when I was first married and we did not have a lot of money for furniture. To my amazement they still are in great condition considering they are made of pressed board and the drawers are plastic! A few years ago I did give them a new coat of paint. Yes, you can paint pressed board. Painting mismatched pieces in like colors gives continuity to the room.

One of my favorite pieces is a short chest with 9 drawers, which are perfect storage for all kinds of notions and craft items. This piece was found in a friend’s garage and I recognized its value as a perfect storage unit for my sewing room. The basic frame was homemade from 2 x 4’s and other left overs, the top was gone. The best part was the drawers were made from wooden prune boxes, which I found hilarious. It is a rather crude piece of furniture, but with a little paint, it worked in with the dressers.

Being a little short of floor space, I took the legs off an old book shelf and placed it on top of the prune box chest for storage. One of the next projects is to paint the bookcase to match the chest. (Of course I saved the 6” legs from the bookcase to use for another project, which will probably bee a footstool of some sort…but then, who knows.)

I also have a drop leaf table to spread projects out on, which is great for a work space and saves space when not in use.

Of course, every sewing room needs a comfy chair. Mine is not real pretty, but one of the most comfortable. It is from my 1st living room set and has been recovered a number of times. I keep saying I need to get rid of it, but I think it could take another makeover.The Chihuahuas and I curl up on it to sew, read and watch TV.

A few other ideas for saving space in the sewing room is this caddy from shoe holders. It is a great place for my scissors, glues, tools, crochet hooks, etc. The small shelves were made from scrap wood. These are hanging above my sewing machine cabinet and have really been handy for all kinds of STUFF.

If the house caught on fire, I would grab the Chihuahuas and my sewing machine. It was my first "major" purchase out of college, and one of my prized possessions. I bought it in 1975 and would not trade it for any of the new machines. It was one of the last models Singer made with a cast iron head. I love it to this day!

This peg rack is behind the door, so no one sees the clutter. It is great for hanging my painting aprons, unfinished projects, and the broom and dustpan for clean up.

The sewing room is now cleaned and ready to for all the winter projects I have planned.

Software and Fun Spots

2007-09-22T08:27:00.000-05:00

This week I have been doing a bit of surfing and looking at some of the new freeware that is out there. Being an organized person is not always easy, especially on the computer. Seems like I want a program to use for everything and never quite come up with the right one. There is alot of freeware or shareware out there if you know where to look. My two favorites are pretty basic, but I will share them with you anyway. They are Tucows and PCWorld and both have ratings of the featured software. Just because they are free, it does not mean they are not great programs. I think I might try out some of the new antivirus and spamware programs, although I am not unhappy with my Avast and Adaware.

I did run into a neat little freeware program, which I am testing out, called Evernote. So far I am rather pleased with it and have started using it to make my grocery list, little reminders and notes of what all I would like to put on my blogspot. It is a nice little organizer for my foggy mind.

For some of you who know me, you know I spend alot of time online ... doing what? Well, when I am not reading the Frugal Living Forum, I might be entertaining myself by putting together a jigsaw puzzle (you will never have to look for lost pieces) or doing a crossword puzzle (you do not have to have a sharp pencil and big eraser).

Of all the sites I have visited over the years Jigzone has the nicest interactive features. It also has a variety of styles of pieces and levels, so it is great for kids and adults. Both sites also have daily puzzles, which I love to do after work to unwind. The crossword site is sponsered by AARP, and has 2 levels of difficulty.

HOMEMADE CLEANERS

2007-09-18T19:46:00.000-05:00

This has been a rough day, so decided I would give my brain a break and pass along some great ideas for Cleaning Products. These are products I use on a regular basis and am pleased with the results. If you start adding up the costs of the ingredients, you will be very surprised what you will save making your own even over getting cleaners at the $1 store.

GLASS CLEANER/GENERAL PURPOSE CLEANER
1/2 c Ammonia (sudsy or clear)
2 c rubbing alcohol
1 teaspoon dish soap, like Dawn or Joy
Put the 1st two ingredients in a gallon jug, then fill with water. Add the dish soap and mix well. Put in a spray bottle and use as you would any other glass or all purpose cleaner. (Just plain rubbing alcohol works pretty well for glass cleaner.)

DISINFECTANT SPRAY
This is great when every one has colds, or you want to make sure your cutting board is sanitized etc. Mix 1 part bleach to 10 parts water. This idea was give to me by the Health Department nursed when we did a seminar for my home health aides.

If you are interested in becoming more green look at all the possibilities of plain ol' vinegar and baking soda.

DRAIN CLEANER:
This is something that should be used on a monthly basis to keep your drains clean. Slowly pour a cup of baking soda down the drain, then add a few cups of vinegar. Allow it to sit awhile and pour hot water down the drain. (You can also use this to clean your toilets.) A 50 cents box of baking soda and $2 for a jug of vinegar goes a long way!!! Having a drain cleaner guy or plumber would not be near as inexpensive.

If you have allot of hair that goes down your bathroom drain, you might want to just use bleach on a regular basis as it will dissolve the hair.

You would be very surprised what all comes out of the hose on your washer, which all goes down the drain. A guy who worked for a drain cleaning service told me to put a nylon stocking over the washer drain hose. Tie it on the hose with a piece of elastic or old shoe string. Change the "sock" regularly. What do you suppose all that STUFF is? Maybe we don't want to know!

Well, those are a few of my favorites. Simple and basic....just like me!

Grocery Shopping

2007-09-17T17:59:00.000-05:00

Let’s discuss a bit about grocery shopping, especially in the area we live. Have you ever noticed that some of the same stores have different pricing on some things at their different locations? This is due to the economics of the neighborhood they are in. Some even have $1 aisles? Of course you want to be careful and look and compare the labels and weights of the bargain foods to the brand names. Personally, I am careful to look where the product was made because of the problems there have been on the overseas items. The same holds true with the grocery items at the $1 stores.

Basic Grocery Shopping: Maybe you know many of these already, so think of this as a reminder. Grocery are one of your controllable costs. You can save a lot of money if you plan ahead and cook from scratch….besides it is a lot healthier.

· Do not go to the store when you are hungry, as you tend to pick up a lot more items than you need and are not as careful about the pricing. Hungry people seem to end up with a lot of unhealthy and fattening junk foods.
· Do not shop on a daily basis, as you will end up spending more, not only on groceries, but in gas and time.
· Take a list and stick to it! (A food budget is a good thing!) Do an inventory of what you actually need. Leave the husband and kids at home unless you can keep them from adding to the cart and budget.
· Get into the habit of developing a menu for the week and use the ads to give you ideas. If you have a menu you will not have to hang out with the fridge door open wondering what you are going to make for dinner and takes the stress out of what to make each night.
· Plan ahead for leftovers. Leftovers are great for making your lunch. Or for example, that roast beef will also work great for sandwiches for the next meal, or put in a stew etc. Taking a lunch is not only going to save you money, but you will be eating healthier. Put lunch together when cleaning up the kitchen.
· If you do not like leftovers, do not make more than you will eat or freeze them for later. Don’t let them sit in the fridge and throw them out later. Think about how much you are throwing out on a daily or weekly basis and how much it actually cost you. Portion control is a good thing, especially if you are trying to diet.
· Stock up on non perishable items when they are on sale……..YOU ALWAYS NEED TP!
· Try generic brands, just buy a can or two to try, you may find you like them as well as the name brands. If they are used in a recipe you probably won’t notice the difference.
· Coupons are only good deals if you actually use the product or just want to try them.
· Check out the short coded products, produce and meat for discounts.
· Many manufactures have cut down the product inside of the package, but the packaging stays the same size. Bigger is not always better…..some manufactures are charging more per ounce or serving size, so compare sizes of products.
· If you are serious and want to cut your grocery spending, make a price book to keep track of pricing, size, sale price, the date and store, then you know when you are really getting a good deal.
· Just because a product is in an ad, it does not always mean it is actually on sale!
· Use printable grocery lists for inventory and for shopping. If any of you would like my list done in excel.

Give it some thought. Saving money in one area gives you money for another. Budgeting and frugality will help you buy the things you really want and need without going into debt.

Please post your comments and any ideas you would like to add.

Better than Hershey's Chocolate Syrup

2007-09-16T21:32:00.000-05:00

When the weather starts getting cool there is nothing better than a cup of hot cocoa before bed. Skip the pre-made mixes and try this! It might take a bit of time, but is well worth it and less money for more taste. If you have the ingredients in stock, it will take less time than running to the store.
Actually this recipe is for ice cream syrup, but I use it for cocoa too. It probably came from one of my favorite recipe sites, Recipe Source.

Chocolate Syrup***** YUMMY!!!! Better than Hershey’s

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla ( real vanilla is awesome, so I add a small bit more)

1 dash salt
Combine cocoa, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Add water, and mix until smooth. Bring this mixture to a boil. Allow it to boil for one minute, be careful this does not over boil. Remove from heat, when this cools add the vanilla. Store in a jar in the fridge.

When poured over ice cream it is almost a fudge sauce, if I remember correctly.

It looks like fall is in the air, so the pond and hoses have been drained and all the garden ornaments stored for the winter. It was a beautiful day in my neighborhood. Hope it was in yours too.

A LITTLE CATCH UP FOR MY FRIENDS

2007-09-16T12:15:00.000-05:00

In August my daughter moved back to her house. I decided that I would move my bedroom downstairs and turn it into a suite for myself.

The house is an old split level and the lower level is always warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. This should definitely be an energy saving for me, since I spend most of my home time in this room. The Chi's will have to wear their coats this winter, as the heat will be set low.

Soon as the last of Amanda's things were out, I painted the walls and ceiling, tore out the old carpet and laid new carpeting. (I want to thank my young friend, Dustin, for helping me carry the carpeting down and getting it rolled out.)

By going with a rubber back carpeting, I was able to cut it to fit myself and saved about $300 on having to have someone install padding and carpeting. It is adhered to the floor with double sided tape, as the last carpeting. The sub floor is cement and always dry, so this works well. It is not very expensive, but it is only me and the Chihuahuas who use the room.

The windows are horizontal and very long and narrow, which was not easy to work around. Because I wanted a more formal room, I chose to hang long drapes. (They were purchased a few years ago on sale at Kmart for $10/ panel.) Unfortunately I had to work around a 3" wide ledge. By using curtain rods which protrude out from the wall about 3" the drapes hang very well.

For 29 years I lived with the same bedroom furniture, so when I moved to the lower level it all stayed upstairs in the "new" guest bedroom. Most of my "new" bedroom furniture is from other areas of the house, altho I bought a chaise, a round end table and decorator screen when I worked at the furniture store...f course, all of the pieces were at or below cost from the clearance area. For my birthday Amanda paid for a new matt and box, which was also a kind of a spiff from the furniture store. As it turned out it cost about 1/3 of the retail.

There is still alot of work to be done, but that will happen as the money is available and after all... decorating is an ongoing process.

OMG! WHAT HAVE I DONE NOW

2007-09-16T11:16:00.000-05:00

First I want to welcome anyone who has shown up here!

For quite sometime I have been thinking about creating webpages for all the neat things I have wanted to share, especially with some of the young folk I know who are just starting out. Matter of fact in the last few years I have joked about putting together a book or CD of household hints and ideas. I just could not come up with a format that would do what I wanted it to.

Until very recently it never occurred to me to start a blogspot...LIKE DAAAAH!

This morning after posting on the daily check in over at the Frugal Living Forum, I realized a blog might be the right platform. A blog would allow me to post comments and ideas as they came to mind, projects could be shared and I could keep up with those who know me in real life and get to know people from the online communities.

I thank all the people at the Frugal Living Forum for their encouragement and hope you will not think you have created a monster. For those of you who know me in real life: you know I always have something going on and just should have a big UNDER CONSTRUCTION sign over the front door.

So this is a new endeavor, and as usual, UNDER CONSTRUCTION! It will take me awhile to learn how to use this format, so please bear with me. Already the font option window has disappeared so we are off to the usual start.